Accumulator



June 1, 1943.

T. R. JAMES E-rAL 2,320,934

ACCUMULATOR Filed April 11, 1941 8 sheets-sheet 1 I June 1, 1943.

` T. R. JAMES ErAL ACCUMULATOR Filed April ll. 1941 8 sheets-Sheet 2 June 1, 1943.

T. R. JAMES ErAL ACCUMULATOR Filed April 11, 1941 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 m U h Thomas .R Jaunes Jase m. Y mn `lune 1, 1943.

VT. R. JAMES ETAL ACCUMULATOR Filed April ll, 1941 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 701205)@ ggg).

June 1, 1943. T. R. JAMES ETAL ACCUMULATOR Filed April ll, 1941 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 lmmm "Il" /49 June l, 1943 T. R. .JAMES-ETAL ACCUMULATOR Filed April ll, 1941 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 June 1, 1943.

T. R. JAMES ErAL 2,320,934

ACCUMULATOR Filed April 11, 1941 s sheets-sheet e Patented June l, 1943 ACCUMULATOR Thomas R. James, Minneapolis, Minn., and Joseph Desjardins, Chicago, lll., assignors to General Mills, Inc., a corporation of Delaware VApplication April 11, 1941, Serial No. 388,090

(Cl. 19a-32) 8 Claims.

This invention relates to means for receiving a series of cartons, packages, or the like from two feeding conveyors, as from two machines for lll ing and closing the cartons, the cartons often accumulating in considerable numbers on one or both of the feeding conveyors, said means then serving to feed these cartons at a regular and continuous rate to a delivery conveyor so long as the supply is received from both the feeding conveyors, or continuing to feed from one of the feeding conveyors while 'the other is not feeding them for any reason. Another object is to provide means for taking two irregular streams of cartons or the like from diiferent conveyors and combining these streams and delivering them as a regular stream to a third conveyor without interference of the streams.

Another object is to provide a mechanism for controlling the operation when the flow of pack` ages is irregular and that can be reliably operated by light weight packages.

Another object is to provide a compact yet simple machine to accomplish the above purposes.

These and other objects as will hereinafter appear are accomplished by this invention which is fully described in the following specication and shown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of the machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial enlarged vertical section on the line 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view as viewed from near the line 2 of Fig. 1 showing the relaf tive positions of one of the outside conveyors and the tail end of the central return conveyor;

Fig. 4 is a partial enlarged perspective of the operating end of the machine;

Fig. 4a is a partial enlarged elevation on the' line 4a of Fig. 4;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 4 with many of the parts removed showing the transverse shifting mechanism;

Fig.,6 is a partial enlarged perspective of portions of the transfer mechanism;

Fig. 7 is a partial perspective view of the pusher mechanism for feeding cartons or packages to the delivery conveyor, showing the pusher mechanism at the extreme forward end of its swing;

Fig. 8 is a similarvview showing the pusher mechanism starting its return stroke;

Fig. 9 is a partial perspective of a portion of the pusher mechanism corresponding to the position of the same in Fig. 8 showing this mechanism starting the return stroke;

Fig. 10 is a partial perspective view of the pusher mechanism near the rear end of its movement, but showing it just starting forward with a group of three cartons;

Fig. 11 is a partial perspective of the cam member for controlling the backward stroke of the pusher;

Fig. 12 is a partialperspective of mechanism for controlling the transfer mechanism;

Fig. 13 is similar to Fig. 12 but viewed from a forward position;

Fig. 14 is a partial control levers; and

Fig. 15 is a partial transverse section on the line I5 of Fig. 14.

'I'he embodiment illustrated comprises a mechanism having a frame 20 with transverse channel beams 2| by means of which it is supported from the ceiling of a room by means of rods 22.

In general, there are two spaced continuous conveyors 25, 26 adapted to'bring the lines of cartons A and B, respectively, from two other machines (not shown) which in this instance automatically ll, close, and glue-seal the cartons. This machine then combines the lines of cartons A, B into a steadily owing stream C of spaced groups of three cartons each, which stream is then fed to a machine D which, in this instance, is a waxing machine.

It will be understood that the lines of cartons A and B may be either regular or irregular as to spacing and it is the purpose of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 to combine the irregular streams A and B and to deliver them as a steady stream C to the machine D. Inside guide rails 21 separate Awith a bevel gear 4i)a on a shaft the central line C from the spaced outside lines A and B while guide rails 28 lie alongside the spaced conveyors. Guide rods 29, 29a serve to guide the cartons in the line C.

Referring now to Fig. 5, the outside conveyors 25, 26 are driven by suitable pulleys 30, 3| on a head shaft 32 which has a sprocket 33 driven by a chain 34 from a sprocket 35 (Fig. 4) on a shaft 36 of a speed reducer 31 which in turn is driven by an electric motor 38 which is suitably supported on a head frame 39 of the conveyor.

A bevel gear 40 on the shaft 32 (Fig. 5) meshes 4|, these bevel gears being enclosed in a housing 40b (Fig. 4), which extends alongside the main frame and is suitably journaled in bearings carried thereby. This shaft extends forwardly and has suitable bevel gears (not shown) in a housing 42 which serve to drive a head shaft 43 having a head pulley 44 of the central or delivery continuous conveyor 45 (Fig. 3).

perspective of one of thev The shaft-36 (Fig. 1) also. has keyed thereon a sprocket 46 which drives a chain 41 which drives a sprocket 48 on the crank shaft 49 and sprocket 59 on a cam shaft 5| and a sprocket 52 on a shaft 53, said shafts 49, 5| and 53 being suitably jourtransversely to the conveyors at their ends in y brackets 12, 13 to the sides of the head frame 39 and these serve as guides on which slide the transfer members 14, 15 which, as will later be seen, act alternately to push three cartons at a time first from one of the outside conveyors 25, 29 and then from the other to the central or delivery conveyor. A

The inner ends 16, 11 of the transfer members 14 and 15 respectively (Fig. 5), carry rollers 16 which are held in contact with opposite faces of a cam 19 keyed on the cam shaft 5|. This cam appears circular as viewed axially of the shaft These rollers are yieldingly pressed against the opposite faces of the cam by means of long soft tension springs 89 which are secured at their ends to the members 14 and 15. These springs also serve, as will later be seen, to enable either of the members 14 or 15, or both of them, to be held at the outer ends of their strokes so as to render them inoperative to transfer cartons from the outer conveyors to the central conveyor.

Thus it will be seen that as the cam shaft 5| rotates, the cam 19 will propel the transfer members 14 and 15 back and forth across the side conveyors over which each member operates.

In Fig. 5, the member 14 has been moved by means of the cam 19 to its maximum position to the right thereby transferring three cartons to the right and into line with the center conveyor if such cartons were present. In Fig. 5, however, no such cartons are here shown. At the same time the transfer member is at the extreme right-hand end of its movement and is in position to transfer in its next movement to the left the three cartons B1, as shown. Ordinarily, there would be a line of cartons on both the conveyors and ,26, as shown in Fig. 1, but these are omitted in Fig. 5 for the sake of clearness. It will be noted that the sides 14' and 15 of the members 14 and 15 are made parallel to their travel, these members being slightly narrower than the width of three cartons so that as the member moves forward,'push ing the three cartons with it `on to a plate 6| (Fig. 5), one of these straight sides will serve to prevent the adjacent line of cartons from moving forward during the time these three cartons are being transferred to the plate 6| along a guide 93. Upon withdrawal of that member, however, out of the line of cartons, the line of cartons will be advanced until it encounters a stop 62, carried by the head frame.

As will later be seen, there are times when it is desirable that either of the transfer members 14, 15 or both of them, shall be held in inoperative positions at the outer ends of their movement. I1.'he shaft 63 has a cam 9| keyed thereon. A cam follower roller 92 is pivotally mounted on one end of a bell crank 93 mounted on a stub shaft 94. One arm 95 of this bell crank is curved down in order to engage a hole 96 near the inner end of the transfer member 14. Another arm 91 is pivotally connected to a link 99 which,

as shown in Fig. 12, is pivotally connected to a bell crank 99 which is pivotally mounted on a l Referring also to Figs. 14 and 15, a rod |91is a counter-balanced rod having an upper stop I||. The finger ||9 carries a stop Ill* carried by the brackets |9| and carries a pairA of supports |96 between which is pivotallyv mounted on a pin |99 a weighted finger ||9 and so that the two travel together when the weight of the member Ill'holds it in contact with `the v stop. f

When the rod is raised to the full line position, as shown in Fig. 14 by the dropping of finger ||9 when no carton supports'it, the rod engages the lower end of the lever |95,

thereby holding the bell crank 93 in the dotted line position shown in Fig. 6 against the action of the spring ||1 which tends to Vreturn this bell crank to a point where the follower 92 is in cony tact with the cam. This action can only take place when the high point of the cam 9| is at the dottedv line position shown at the top and when the transfer member 14 has been shifted all the way to the left, as shown in Fig. 6, that is when the follower 16 is on the flat portion of the cam 19 and this cam is 180 from its full-line position here shown. When this happens, the transfer member 14 is held at its outermost position and it can only be released therefrom when the high point of the cam 9| again engages the follower 92. .i

The purpose of this method of locking the transfer member from transferring cartons from the line A on the conveyor 25 (or line B on conveyor 26) tothe center conveyor, is to insure that a transfer of cartons will take place only so long as there is a supply of cartons on the conveyor. Thus, if the supply of cartons to the line A fails, the weighted nger ||9 will'drop because there is no carton at that point to support it, thereby lifting the counterbalanced rod so that it serves as a stop for the lever |96, thereby inserting the curved end of the bell crank into the opening 96 and thus locking the shifter member in inoperative position.

- In order to make this locking mechanism more delicate in its operation, we have provided an adjustable counterweight ||2 (Fig. 13) to the rod By this means the weight of the rod will not be suilicient to cause it to Workl loose from the lever-196 when a carton lifts the finger H9. In this event, the transfer member 14 might be caused to snap back at almost any point in the cycle of the cam 19, thereby'causing considerable damage to any cartons which were in the way of this transfer member. Exactly similar apparatus is supplied on the righthand side for controlling the movement of the transfer member 15. Some of this apparatus has been indicated by the same numerals as those for controlling the member 14 except that they are given corresponding numbers with a suffix a.

The mechanism for advancing the cartons in groups of three as they are received on the plate 6| from one or other of the shaft members will now be described. This consists, as shown in Figs. 4, 7, 8, 9 and 10, of a carriage |2| slidably mounted on forwardly extending parallel brackets |23 and at the opposite ends in brackets |24. This carriage has pivotally secured thereto a link |3| which is pivotally mounted at its outer end on a crank |32 which. as shown in Fig. 4a,

is pivotally mounted on a crank |33 which is keyed on the shaft 49, the latter being suitably journaled in a bracket' |34 (Fig. 4). This bracket also has secured thereto a sprocket |35 having a sprocket chain |36 which also passes around a sprocket |31 on the shaft to which the crank |32 is connected. The sprocket |31/has one-half the number of teeth of the sprocket |35 so that the crank |32 makes a revolution about its axis for each revolution of the crank |33 but in the opposite direction. 'I'he cranks |32 and |33 are preferably of the same length.

'I'hus it will be seen that at any given point in the movement of the crank 33, the crank |32 has described twice the angle of the crank |33 with the result that the link |3| describes a straight line with a simple harmonic motion. That is of importance here for the reason that the space would not permit employing a simple crank of sulcient radius to give the necessary movement to the carriage |2l.

'I'he carriage 2| is provided with a pusher |4| which is Ipivotally mounted on a transversely extending rod, not shown (Figs. 9 and 10) and is provided with a coil spring |42 which normally urges the pusher to the full vertical position shown in Fig. l'wherein an arm |43 engages a stop |44.

The carriage is at the rearmost position in Fig. and is about to travel forward. As it does so, the cam follower roller |45, rotatably mounted on a lever |46 secured to the pusher |4I, passes up over a cam member |41 which is pivotally mounted at |48 on a bracket |488. The gate assumes the position shown in Fig. 10 throughout its forward movement at which time the roller |45 passes over the upwardly-inclined outer end of the cam bar |41, as shown in Fig. '1, this cam bar being lifted yby means of a spring |48. Then as the carriage returns, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the roller |45 passes under the outer end of ythe cam bar, thereby swinging the pusher |4| upwardly so that it passes above the cartons C1,

A stop pin |49 (Fig. 8) on the cam bar serves to limit the upward movement of the cam bar.

This accumulator mechanism delivers through a line C to a machine D. It is necessary, therefore, that the feed mechanism of the accumulator shall not feed the cartons faster than they can be taken care of by the machine D, otherwise many of the cartons in the delivery line may be wrecked. To solve this problem, we have provided a mechanism, 'shown principally in Figs. 12 and 13, to fufll these conditions. Its construction and operation are quite similar so that of the stop mechanism previously described which is` operated by the weighted iingers I0. Thus the bell crank 99 is provided with a lower lever ISI and a rod |62 is carried by the brackets llll. Also brackets. |63 are secured to the rod |62 and depend therefrom and have secured between them a rod |64. on which is pivotally mounted two weighted fingers` |65, the construction and operation of which are alike so that the description of one will serve for the other. Beside each of these lingers is pivotallyl mounted a block |66 which carries a hook |61 (Fig. 13) which moves up and down following the movements of the weighted lingers |65 in.

the same way that the counterbalanced rod follows the movements of the weighted finger shown in Fig. 13, passes around the lower end of the lever ISI whereas the rod being already on the far side of the lever |66 engaged III). In this case, however, the hook |61, as

it by a thrust. AThe elect is the same, however, in both instances, namely, it serves to hold lsie rod 98 back so as to cause the curved end ber, thereby holding that member out of engagement until the rod 98 is again released during one of the periods of dwell in the cam. Here too we have rendered the block |66.sensitive by providing it with an adjustable counterbalancing weight |69.

'I'he operation of this mechanism for controlling the feed of cartons to the central conveyor is dependent upon the fact that these cartons are fed forward to the central conveyor in groups preferably of three, with spaces therebetween. The ngers |65 must, therefore, be placed at a proper distance from the transfer members 14, 15 so that normally there will be no cartons under these ngers at the instant the cam 19 is on either of its periods of dwell. Thus, when cartons pile up on the central conveyor faster than they can be taken 'by the machine D, they will back up until they lie under the lingers- |65. As soon as that happens, the transfer members will be locked so that no more cartons can be fed to the central conveyor until such a time as the central conveyor is able to move the cartons from beneath the lingers |65. When this occurs, the curved end of the bell crank corresponding to the transfer member then having its roller 18 in contact with the cam 19 will be withdrawn from its hole 96 and thistransfer member will then operate to shift three more cartons from its conveyor to the plate 9|. On the next half revolution of the cam 19, the other side will be released in this same way. That is why thereare two lingers |65 each controlling the operation of one of the transfer members.

While we have shown and described but a single embodiment of our inventionfit is to be understood that it is capable of many modications.

Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the appended claims.

We cla'lin as our invention:

l. In a machine of the class described, two spaced conveyors adapted to convey cartons of a given size and shape, a. delivery conveyor between said spaced conveyors, a plate between the spaced conveyors, independently operable yieldable means for transferring cartons alternately from each of the spaced conveyors to the plate, means for advancing said cartons from the plate to the delivery conveyor, means operable by cartons on said spaced conveyos for rendering the transfer means for one of said spaced conveyors inoperative when there are no cartons on that conveyor at a given point and for again rendering said transfer means operative when cartons again arrive at said given point, and means operto engage the hole 96 in the transfer memsition, a cam operably connected to themember for moving the same into and out of locking relation, .cam meansfor operating the alternate transferring means, ay rocker lever` operably connected to the locking member, a finger adapted to be lifted by packages in one of said streams.

stroke, means for rendering the transfer means for one of said spaced conveyors inoperative when there are no cartons on that conveyor at a given point and for again rendering said transfer means operative when cartons again arrive at 'f said given point, and means operable by cartons on the deliveryconveyor for rendering both the --transfer means inoperative when cartons accumulate at a predetermined point on the delivery conveyor and for again rendering both'the transfer means operative as soon as no cartons are at said predetermined point.

3. In a machine of the class described, two spaced conveyors adapted to convey cartons of a given size and shape, a delivery conveyor between said spaced conveyors, a plate between the spaced conveyors, independently operable yieldable means for transferring a group of cartons alternately from each of the spaced conveyors to the plate, a. pusher for advancing said cartons from the plate to the delivery conveyor, cam-operated means for lifting said pusher above the level of cartons on the delivery conveyor on the return stroke, means for rendering the transfer means for one of said spaced coneyors inoperative when there are no cartons on that conveyor at a given point and for again rendering said transfer means operative when cartons again arrive at said given point, and means operable by cartons on the delivery conveyor for rendering both the transfer means inoperative when cartons accumulate at a predetermined point on the delivery conveyor and for again rendering both the transfer means operative as soon as no cartons are at said predetermined point.

4. I n a machine of the class described, two spaced conveyors adapted to convey cartons of a given size and shape, a delivery conveyor between said spaced conveyors, a plate between the spaced conveyors, independently operable yieldable means for transferring a group of cartons alternately from each of the spaced conveyors to the plate, a pusher for advancing said cartons from the plate to the delivery conveyor, a cam bar, a cam follower carried by the pusher and operating above the cam bar on the forward stroke and beneath it on the return stroke for lifting said pusher above the level of cartons on the delivery conveyor on the return stroke, means for rendering the transfer means for one of said spaced conveyors inoperative when there are no cartons on that conveyor at a given point and for again rendering Said transfer means operative when cartons, again arrive at said given point, and means operable by cartons on the delivery conveyor for rendering both the transfer means inoperative when cartons accumulate at a predetermined point on the delivery conveyor and for again rendering both the transfer means operative Las soon as no cartons are at said predetermined point.

5. In a machine of the class described, means for conveying packages in two separate streams to adjacent points, means for alternately transferring packages from each of the two points and reassembling them to combine the two streams into a third stream, means for conveying away the third stream, a member for locking one of the transferring means in inoperative poand a rod operably connected to the finger so vas to be lifted thereby when the finger falls because there are no 'packages tauft it, said rod being adapted when raised to engage the rocker vlever .to cause .the locking vmember to engage the transfer means to prevent it from operating when there are no packages-inone'of the separate streams.

6. In a machine ofthe class described, means for conveying packages in two separate streams to adjacent points, means for alternately transferring packages from each of the two points and reassembling them to combine the two streams into a third stream, means for conveying away the third stream, a member for locking one of the transferring means in inoperative position, a cam operably connected to the member, a rocker lever operably connected to the locking member for moving the same into and out of locking relation, cam means for operating the alternate transferring means, a nger adapted to be lifted by packages in one of said streams, a rod operably connected to the finger so as to be lifted thereby when the finger falls because there are no packages to lift it, said rod being adapted when raised to engage the rocker lever -to cause the locking member to engage the transfer means to prevent it from operating when there are no packages in one of the separate streams, a pusher for advancing each group of cartons onto the third conveying means, and means for lifting the pusher above the cartons on its return stroke.

7. In a machine of the class described, means for conveying packages in two separate streams to adjacent points, means for alternately transferring packages from one of the two pOints and then from the other and reassembling these packages to combine the two streams into a third stream, means for conveying away the third stream, a member for locking one ofthe transfer means in inoperative position, a cam operablyconnected to the locking member for moving the same into and out of lock-ing relation, cam means for operating the alternate shifting means, a rocker lever operably connected to the locking member, a nger adapted to be lifted by lpackages in one of said streams. a rod operably connected to the finger so as to be lifted thereby when the finger falls because there are no packages to lift it, said rod being adapted when raised to engage the rocker lever to cause the locking member to engage the transfer means to prevent it from operating when there are no packages in one of the separate streams.

and means operable by cartons on the delivery conveyor for rendering both the transfer means inoperative when cartons accumulate at a predetermined point on the delivery conveyor and for again rendering 'both the transfer means operative as soon as no cartons are at said predetermined point.

8. In a machine of the class described, means for conveying packages in two separate streams to adjacent points, means for alternately transferring packages from one of the two points and then from the other and reassembling these packages to combine the two streams into a third stream, means for conveying away the third stream, a member for locking one `of the transno packages to lift it, said rod being adapted 10 when raised to engage -the rocker lever to cause the locking member to engage the transfer means to prevent it from operating when there are no packages in one of the separate streams, a pusher for advancing each group of cartons onto the third conveying means, mean for lifting the pusher above the cartons on its return stroke, and means operable by cartons on the delivery conveyor for rending both the transfer means inoperative when cartons accumulate at a predetermined point on the delivery conveyor and for again rendering both the transfer means operative as soon as no cartons are at said predetermined point.

THOMAS R. JAMES. JOSEPH DESJARDINS. 

